During the past years, the interest in using mobile and landline/wireline computing devices in day-to-day communications has increased. Desktop computers, workstations, and other wireline computers currently allow users to communicate, for example, via e-mail, video conferencing, and instant messaging (IM). Mobile devices, for example, mobile telephones, handheld computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc., also allow users to communicate via e-mail, video conferencing, IM, and the like. Mobile telephones have conventionally served as voice communication devices, but through technological advancements they have recently proved to be effective devices for communicating data, graphics, etc. Wireless and wireline technologies continue to merge into a more unified communication system, as user demand for seamless communications across different platforms increases, which in turn creates more usage, and leads to more services and system improvements.
For example, with the advancement of Internet technologies and mobile telephony, users want to enjoy new communication services, which can be accessed anytime, anywhere, on any device, independent of the access network. Users expect services that support their mobility at home, on travel, and on business, and want to be able to use different end user devices. They expect service profiles tailored to the end user devices' capabilities, which enable them to switch easily between their private and business roles, i.e., from one device used at home to another device used at a business location. Moreover, users desire devices which enable easy and comfortable subscriber self-administration.
By way of contrast, many services which have been implemented in the past have not kept up with available technologies. For example, consider a conventional call center. A conventional call center typically receives phone calls in support of a service. Call centers have been used to support trouble shooting, billing issues and general service questions for many industries and service such as computer hardware manufacturers, phone companies and company benefits. These call centers generally only support the use of calls received from both wireline and wireless phones and frequently rely upon human operators to provide at least some interactions with the callers, but do not take advantage of other technologies that exist or could be modified to be used in a call center.
Accordingly, systems and methods for integrating available technologies to improve call center capabilities are desirable.